


Once Upon a Daydream

by WritesEveryBlueMoon



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: Bertie Wells' Bad Poetry Mention, Cambridge Crew, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Gay Panic, New Years, spinoff of a fic not yet written, the Cambridge Crew are idiots and we love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28271901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritesEveryBlueMoon/pseuds/WritesEveryBlueMoon
Summary: After spending time together during the holidays, Amanda and Henry have overcome their rivalry, and struggle to confess some more-than-platonic feelings (feat. mostly unhelpful advice from their friends)
Relationships: Alfred Cheng & Henrietta Trilling & Amanda Price & Bertie Wells & Harold Mukherjee, Amanda Price/Henrietta Trilling, Harold Mukherjee/Bertie Wells (background), Verity Abraham/Henrietta Trilling (past)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Once Upon a Daydream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunshinedflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinedflower/gifts).



> Happy birthday Flo! I know you like Enemies to Lovers, so I hope you enjoy this! Have a wonderful day, you deserve only the best :)
> 
> Thanks to clickingkeyboards for betaing!

Christmas at Bertie’s was now over, and they were back in Cambridge once again, yet everything was extraordinarily different.

Namely, Amanda Price’s relationship with Henrietta Trilling was different.

There was no way it couldn’t be, really, with all that had been confessed on that fateful train journey. It was odd; they had been rivals for as long as they’d known each other, yet recently Amanda couldn’t get Henry off her mind.

It didn’t help that they lived in the same building, of course.

In the time before, whenever Amanda had seen Henry she’d felt a rise of irritation, a desire to prove herself better. Every look from the redhead had seemed like a smug smirk.

Yet now, Amanda just couldn’t see it that way. True, Henry was equally competitive to her, and academically they had never been one-upping each other more. But it no longer felt like defeat when Henry won. Amanda found herself actually rooting for the other young woman to do well, in part, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself, because of how beautiful Henry’s smile was when she was happy.

Every victory from either of them felt like a joint win, like they were competing with each other but both playing for the same team.

One could safely say they were friends.

The problem was - well, it was not so much a problem as a minor grievance - that Amanda cared about what Henry thought of her in a way that was far different to friendship.

Had it not been for that goddamn kiss under the mistletoe, Amanda might’ve been alright. She’d had unrequited romantic feelings before, after all.

But every time Amanda tried to stop thinking about Henry, she found herself remembering that mistletoe kiss. Bertie’s fun joking suggestion, egged on by his family. How Henry had laughed but had a slight blush at the same time.

How she had turned to Amanda, a twinkle in her eye, and leaned in to slightly peck her on the lips.

It had been quite possibly the quickest kiss in existence. Had lasted but a second or two.

Yet Amanda could not stop thinking about it.

There was this spark, one that had always been there, but she was only just beginning to notice. The way they responded to each other, the way they laughed together, complimented each other.

It felt right. Like… they were meant to be together.

Sometimes, Amanda wondered if Henry felt it too. If the look in her eyes whenever they gave each other a meaningful glance was something not-so-platonic.

However, Amanda couldn’t let herself entertain daydreams.

It was a struggle, because all of Amanda’s instincts told her to gather evidence, analyse Henry’s actions, maybe even ask her directly.Yet none of these things could be done, not for her own sake, but for Henry’s.

After all, Amanda knew Henry was only romantically interested in women. She also knew that Henry had once had a girlfriend.

Now, Amanda was hardly demanding to be anybody’s first love (it wasn’t like Henry was hers) but something about the way she’d said it implied that there was more to it than a simple break up.

_“I… I lost her.”_

It was almost as if their relationship hadn’t ended, but been pulled away by a force beyond either girl’s control. Amanda hoped she was wrong, but if she wasn’t, Henry might not be ready for any relationship for a long time, if ever. And nobody who had been through that deserved to be any pressure to do so, no matter how in love another person was.

Thus, Amanda mentally pushed away how her heart skipped a beat if Henry looked at her a certain way. How her breath would catch when seeing her each morning. How every time she flicked that infuriatingly gorgeous, long, auburn hair over her shoulder, Amanda wanted to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her again, properly this time.

It would fade, someday. She was sure.

Of course, she was quite wrong.

One such morning, that of December 31st, Amanda strode into the pathetic dining room, and noticed Henry giving her a wave, gesturing to the seat beside her. Amused and touched, Amanda began to head over, but evidently not fast enough for her very impatient friend.

“Took you long enough,” she gave a smile, casually flicking her curls over her shoulder.

“What’s so important anyway?” Amanda asked, munching on a piece of slightly-burned toast.

Henry paused and a slight tinge came to her cheeks, “Well… it’s new years tonight…”

“Really?” Amanda said with a sarcastic smirk, “I would never have known.”

“Oh hush, you,” Henry gave a fond eye roll. “I was just wondering… if you would like to go climbing with me, to celebrate?”

Amanda was speechless, her head occupied with delight and surprise and worry all at the same time. Did Henry mean just as friends? That must’ve been the answer, there was no way… Could it be romantic?

“...with Bertie and Harold too, of course.” Oh. Well that answered that.

Amanda tried to push aside thoughts of romance, and instead grinned, “I’d love to.”

“Wonderful.” Henry blushed, smiling at her uneaten toast.

* * *

“Why on Earth did you tell her we would be coming along too?” Bertie laughed in disbelief as Henry recounted how asking Amanda on a date had gone.

“Indeed, climbing on new years? There’s a whole list of safety risks I don’t even want to touch…” Harold began seriously, but his blessedly idiotic boyfriend waved him off, still laughing at Henry’s attempt at a romantic declaration.

They were in the boys dorm rooms, with Bertie and Harold snuggled on a sofa, while Henry paced back and forth, and Alfred sat on a separate armchair to read his book and make an occasional judgemental comment.

“I just panicked! She seemed hesitant and I was worried she might not want to go at all…”

“Oh Henry, I’m sure she does,” Harold said kindly.

Alfred snorted, “Indeed, it’s obvious that the two of you want to snog each other senseless every time you interact.”

“Alfred!” the three choursed in varying levels of amusement, embarrassment, and exhaustion.

“What, I’m right! You’re making Bertie’s romantic gestures look competent.”

“Hey!”

“Darling, I love you, but is he wrong?”

“Oi, you agreed to go out with me, so they can’t have been _that_ bad.”

“You’re right, I did say yes to you, but I can’t say that those love poems really helped.”

“I was trying something different!”

“Maybe they’d have been better without the frog metaphors?”

Henry interrupted their conversation by collapsing on the sofa next to them to put her head in her hands and groan.

“Aw, cheer up,” Bertie awkwardly attempted to lighten her spirits, “Harold and me will probably be miles behind because of his larping on about safety and whatnot.”

“It is extremely irresponsible -” Harold began, but was interrupted by Bertie giving him a light peck on the lips.

“Save it for later, love.”

* * *

However, that night, as the four of them scaled the ancient buildings and a few rogue fireworks were set off with unpredictable bangs, Henry had to admit he had a point.

Still, she couldn’t say she had many regrets, because Amanda was clearly having the time of her life.

The two of them quickly outstripped the boys, reaching the spot Henry had picked out to watch the fireworks from with relative ease.

“Oh wow, this is an amazing view,” Amanda gazed out at the lights of Cambridge scattered around below them.

“I figured, to get the best view of the sky rockets, you need to go as high as possible.”

“‘Sky rockets’?” Amanda laughed, “Lord, I love you.”

Henry tried not to act like these words hadn’t set her heart racing and her brain speeding through possible meanings, and with forced ease responded, “and I you.”

The two looked out at the university for a few minutes, trying not to let the other realise just how much they were panicking.

“You know,” Henry said at last, “if you ever did want to be friends… like Harold and Bertie are friends. I would… I would really like that.”

Amanda turned to her, mouth agape. “You mean… me and you? A couple?”

“Only if you wanted to!” Henry added hurriedly.

“Want to? Lord, it’s all I’ve been thinking about since Christmas!”

“When we kissed under the mistletoe.” Henry smiled, looking into Amanda’s eyes and inching ever so slightly closer.

Amanda laughed and leaned in closer, to the point their foreheads were touching. “May I… may I kiss you again?”

Henry was about to answer when a chorus of voices overwhelmed them, all echoing the countdown to the new year.

“Well, it’s clear we have no choice.” Henry said playfully.

Amanda chuckled, “It’s tradition after all…”

_“Happy new year!!!”_

As the fireworks exploded and crashed in the sky around them, the two locked lips, holding nothing back. The passion of their rivalry, the fizz of their friendship, the spark of their feelings for each other, it all came crashing together. They fit together perfectly, and pulled each other closer, rushing and pushing for more.

One could very safely say it was more than a friendly peck. It was a perfect moment.

And if Bertie and Harold were a little ways behind them, paying only a pittance more attention to the fireworks, while Alfred sat comfortably at home, content with his book, tea, and the knowledge of his friends happiness, then that just made it all the better.

**Author's Note:**

> Hilariously, this fic is actually a spinoff from another holiday fic I'm planning, so look out for that sometime soon.


End file.
